Dark, It’s so dark. I hate the dark, that’s where the monsters are. My thoughts run freely through my head as I drift through empty space, cold and numb. I fall landing hard on the ground. Opening my eyes, I see I had fallen out of bed and I lay on the floor of the room that I shared with my sister. I stare blankly at the ceiling for a moment, but I quickly bolt up realizing where I was. I jumped up looking around the room, searching for something I desperately needed. I sprint out of the room and into the kitchen but freeze in place the second I reach the doorway, having found what I was looking for. My little sister, Bree, sat at the table coloring and humming the tune of her favorite song, and My mom stood at the stove cooking eggs and bacon. My mom was a short, small framed woman with mid length dark brown hair, amber eyes, and caramel skin. Bree was almost an exact replica of her except for one thing. I walked to Bree about to touch her to see if she was really there. I hesitate, afraid that the little girl in front of me was just an illusion. She looks up at me with her big sparkling eyes, the same two different colors as mine, and smiles. “Hey Miles, do you like my picture? It's of me, you, and mom in a big castle.” She holds out the paper for me to see, but I don’t even look at it; instead I wrap my arms around her, pick her up and swing her around. 

“I love it Bree, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!” I say as she giggles and squirms in my arms.

“Miles! Put me down!” 

“No, I’m never letting you go again.” I hug her for a moment longer and then go to my mom, hugging her for just as long.

“What’s the special occasion?” My mom says when I let her out of my death grip. 

“Just a nightmare, but it’s over, so no need to worry.”

“Oh, well, ok. Sit down now, breakfast is almost ready and your dad will be home soon.” This sentence sounded off to me but I couldn’t quite place why. I shake it off and sit down already forgetting the terrible nightmares I had awoken from. Hearing the front door open I look to see my dad walk in. He was tall and thin and wore a fancy suit like he had just gotten off work. 

“Oh, hello Miles.” He says as he sits down at the table. “It’s been a while, how’s your first year of school? Six years old is a big number to be.” I freeze at his words, realizing one big important detail. How could I forget? This isn’t my dad. I slowly turn my head to look at him realizing he had gaping holes for eyes, a long slit for a mouth, and his movements were strange and forced.

“Answer your father when he’s talking to you.” The warped man in front of me says.

“I would;” I shakily say. “But you see, the problem is your not my dad. My dad died in a car accident when I was 6.” At my words his slit of a mouth curls sharply down into a large unnatural frown.

     He slams his hands on the table making me and my sister jump. “That’s no way to talk to your father young man!” He says with a voice that gets deeper with each word. I jump over the table and in front of Bree to protect her from the danger in front of us. While I do this I yell at my mom to call 911. 

“Miles why didn’t you protect me?” Bree says as she begins to cry and sniffle.

“What? What do you mean? I’m protecting you right now.” I ask confused as I glance back at her. The second I look behind me Bree disappears and is suddenly in front of the monstrous man.

“Why Miles? Why didn’t you save me? You promised mom you would keep me safe.”

“But I-I did, I just had you behind me!” I yelled as I lunge at her to pull her away from the man.  My legs are suddenly stuck in place and I can’t reach the one I so desperately wanted to save. She just stood there crying, nothing keeping her in place. “GET AWAY FROM HIM BREE!” I beg.

“You left me behind. You let them get me. You promised the monsters couldn’t get me Miles!” As she screams this, the man behind her morphed into a shadow. My heart stops and my mom appears in front of it right next to Bree. Its black, mist like body grew to tower over them. Shiny dagger like appendages sprouted out of the front of the mist and large cat like legs from the back. 

“Miles, how could you? You let us die! It’s all your fault!” My mom yells as the shadow speared her through the chest, hollow gray eyes that blaze like black fire didn’t flinching a fraction of an inch. My mom shrieks in pain as the monster takes his other arm and rips her in half. I scream and beg it to stop, tears flowing down my cheeks, but it didn't care. It tossed her to the side turning it’s focus to Bree. I claw at the ground and scream for her to run, to fight back, something, anything. she looks me directly in the eyes smiling sadly as tears slide down her soft cheeks.

“Its ok Miles, I forgive you for not being there, you did your best. I love you so much big bro.” As she says this the shadow swings its knife like arm clean through her neck. 

    I jolt up sad and disoriented. Blinking my eyes to get rid of the blurry image as I look at my surroundings. I lay against a metal door in a dim hallway of what looked to be an apartment building. I realized I had passed out from loss of blood but didn't die. Great. I look down at my arm and saw that my jacket had been removed and my wound had been sloppily wrapped tight with a bandage. It was blood soaked and dripping down my arm, but it seemed to have stopped it just enough for me not to die. I attempt to get up but only succeed in falling into the wall and making a loud bang as I slide back down to my seated position. I sat there gasping and dizzy from the attempt when I hear small footsteps come thumping down the hallway. I recognize the person as the girl who had opened the door, saving my life. Ah she must have been the one to wrap my arm. I think as she comes up to me hesitant at the last few feet.

    “Your alive, that's good, I was scared you wouldn't wake up. And i'd be alone again...” she trails off towards the end. “Oh, um, I did my best to fix your arm just like my daddy showed me. You were too heavy for me to move, so I did the best I could. I also brought you a blanket so you wouldn't get cold without your jacket, it was covered in blood.” I look down just now realizing the puffy pink blanket at my feet.  I look back up at her with a blank stare. I didn't say a word, still in shock from the dream and the events of last night. 

“Um are you mute mister? I thought you yelled earlier?” At that I realized how creepy I seemed just sitting there staring at her. I open my mouth to speak but only a painful dry rasp comes out, so I cough in an attempt to fix it. “Oh, you must be thirsty! I’ll go get some water and new bandages.” She rushes off and I look around for my bag knowing there was food in it I could trade for her kindness. I find it sitting on the wall to my right, but its contents had been dug out and were sitting on the floor next to it. I panic for a moment looking and mentaly checking off all the things I saw. I calmed down when everything seemed to be there except for the food. The little girl comes back with two bottles full of water and bandages for my arm, but froze when she saw me staring at my bag and the stuff around it.

“Oh, I’m sorry mister please don't be mad. I didn't mess with anything, it's all there. I just was really hungry you see. I haven't eaten anything in 4 days and I thought if you had food…” I stop her by raising my right hand and shaking my head slightly, careful not to get dizzy. She stops but jumps realizing what she was originally doing. “Here's the things!” She drops the the bottles and bandage roll in my lap then backs up looking at her feet like I had just scolded her. In that moment she reminded me of my sister when she was little and had taken some of my candy, but felt bad about it afterwards. I shake that thought away from my mind and take a long drink careful not to drink the whole thing. I wasn't sure how much she had and I didn’t want to take it all. 

“It's ok I was actually going to give that to you. And, thank you. Truly. You saved my life out there… why did you do that anyway? Don't you know that strangers are dangerous?” I say as I begin to fix my bandages. Opening it up it looked gross and dried, but being a clean cut it easily already began to heal and no more blood gushed. 

She smiles at my thanks but her face quickly falls as the question leaves my mouth. “Yes. daddy said the same thing, but he left to find food about a week ago… and I haven't seen him since.” She shifts her weight on her feet clearly uncomfortable talking about her father. “I was alone and scared. When I heard you yell outside I knew the monsters would get you like they did mommy. I couldn't let that happen.” Even though she was 9 she acted as if she was 6, the same age she was when this all started. It was clear that the constant need for survival and being alone with no other kids or other people had stunted her social growth. I sighed realizing how sad she must have been, how scared. It was understandable in her case to why she did it. Her fear of being left alone and her care for others had made her go against what her father had said, no matter the potential danger.

“Well I guess this time it was alright. But you probably shouldn't do that again.” All she does is stare at the ground and nod her head. “Hey now, don't look so sad. How bout this, i'm a new person and I want to be your friend.” I put out my hand for a handshake. “My name is Miles Carter, nice to meet you.” She blankly stares at my hand for a moment, but I see it click and she grabs my hand remembering what to do. “Hi! Im Zoey May, but just call me Z, it's nice to meet you too!” Her smile is so wide I can't help but smile a little myself. Wait, oh, that's the first time i've smiled in a while. It felt strange, but nice. My smile drops remembering the situation we were in. “So, is there anyone else here? How long have you been here?”

“It's just me and daddy, mommy died when the monsters first showed up. Daddy moves us around a lot. I think we've been here for a week and a half. If he was back we were supposed to move to our next house today.” At that I realize just how lucky I was that this little girl was here. Also that her dad wasn't. If he was here, she almost certainly wouldn't have opened up the door. Making me a dead man. I curse myself for being thankful that a man, a little girls dad, could be dead. I hear a beeping that makes me jump. Looking down at my watch I realize I had been asleep for the entirety of the day. 

“What's that for?” Z askes crouching down.

“Oh it’s just telling me I have 45 minutes till the sun goes down. It’s so I don't accidentally lose track of time and stay out to where I cant get safe at night. Well it was supposed to do that anyway; I guess it didn't really help last night.” I mockingly chuckle at myself. Z just sits there silently but stands up with a stretch.

“Hey, there’s a bed you can use in a room just down the hall.”

“I’d love to, but I’m a little too tired to make it, and sorry, but your a lot too weak to carry me. So it’s ok; If you could just bring me a pillow I will be just fine right here again tonight. I need all the rest I can get if im going to walk anytime soon.” 

“I am not too weak!” she hufs as she stomps her foot. “I just haven't eaten in a while, and daddy says eating is how you stay big and strong.”

“Well your dad’s right. The other thing you need to stay big and strong though, is sleep. It's getting dark anyway so we shouldn't be making noise. That's probably a rule of your dads too right?” She crosses her arms and kicks the ground at my words.

“Yes, that's his rule.” She says  grumpily, but she doesn't complain. Instead she turns and walks off down the hall. When she comes back she’s carrying two pillows, a stuffed kangaroo toy, and a blanket. She hands me one of the pillows, walks a few feet down the hall, and plops down fixing her blanket and pillow till she thought it was comfortable.

“Aren't you going to sleep in a bed? Just because I can't doesn't mean you have to sleep out here.” She only shakes her head and furrows her eyebrows, not giving me a clear answer. “Alright, whatever floats your goat I suppose.” She giggled at this, making me smile just a bit.

“That's not how it goes! It's supposed to be boat not goat.”

“Eh, boat, goat, makes no difference to me.” I shrug my shoulders and tell her to go to sleep. she closes her eyes and almost immediately her breathing slows and her face relaxes. She looks so peaceful, like nothing bad could happen. Tsk - too trusting. I put the pillow down and lay on my good side making sure im not able to roll onto my arm and close my eyes. Today may only have been only a few hours long for me, but it was the most peaceful day I’ve had in a long time.